This Week at TEDS: Mohler-Wallis Henry Center Debate & Alistair Begg

(Update: Post corrected thanks to Tyler Wittman)

Thursday night at 7pm CST (8pm EST), the much-anticipated (and widely-covered) debate between Al Mohler and Jim Wallis takes place.  The Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School is staging the event.  Anyone and everyone can watch the live-stream here starting at 7pm on Thursday, October 27, 2011.

I would encourage readers to pray that this event will lead to gospel clarity on a confusing issue.

Here is the event description:

North American Evangelicals have recently experienced a revival of interest in issues of social justice. The growing sentiment among many today is that Jesus preached “good news to the poor,” and was indeed among the poor and marginalized. These Christians believe that the implications of these facts should renew the church’s understanding of the gospel and its mission. Rightly or wrongly, this interest in social justice is transforming the blueprint and vision of ecclesial ministry.

For others, this blueprint conjures up concerns about 20th century liberal Protestantism and a watering down of the gospel’s message of salvation. The defining mission of the church, for them, continues to be the sharing of the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ to all nations, generations, and social classes. The issue of social justice, though important, is not to be considered as an essential part of the mission of the church.

A basic question at the heart of the debate is this: Is social justice an essential part of the mission of the church?

The Henry Center for Theological Understanding, in its Trinity Debates forum, is pleased to provide a public venue for addressing this question by hosting two prominent voices from competing perspectives. Jim Wallis will answer “Yes” and R. Albert Mohler will answer “No.”

Tomorrow is a big day for the Henry Center.  Alistair Begg will speak in the Scripture & Ministry lecture series at 1pm CST, the premier lecture series of the HCTU.  His talk, entitled “Inadequacy: The Surprising Secret to Being Useful to God,” looks excellent.  I’m guessing you’ll want to get the media in a few weeks’ time.

Here is Begg’s blurb (he references the NBA!):

The NBA champions this year was a team made up of fewer stars and less glitz than their opponents. We might say that humility triumphed over hubris. There are lessons-a-plenty in this for an evangelical church that routinely produces all-stars. Such an approach endangers the recipients of such adulation and discourages those who are by-passed in the process. In this lecture, Alistair Begg will consider God’s pattern of using unlikely and ordinary characters and address the possibility that what we regard as a hindrance may be the key to usefulness in God’s service.